THE IMPORTANCE OF 
GCHRBISTIAN BDUGATIONS 
A CHARGE, 

DELIVERED TO 
THE er OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
iN ao DIOCESE OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

HELD AT WARRENTON, JUNE Ist, 1833, 


BY THE 


Rieut Rrevw’p LEVI SILLIMAN IVES. 


FAYETTEVILLE: 


PRINTED BY EDWARD J. HALE. 


1833. 


ps 
ps 


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CHARGE. 


My BRETHREN oF THE CLERGY: 


The importance of making Curist1an Epucatron an essen- 
tial part of mental discipline in our primary and classical schools, and 
hence of placing these schools under the guardianship of the Christian 
Church, isa subject, which, although fitly presented in the form of a CuarcE 
to yourselves, I cannot but hope, may address itself with equal force to 
each of my Lay Brethren in this Convention and throughout this Diocese. 

No apology nor explanation is needed, at the present moment, for intro- 
ducing this subject to your notice, and for endeavoring to enlist in its be- 
half your cordial and united co-operation. The steps we have already 
taken, and have pledged ourselves to take, for the establishment of a school 
on the principle of combining Christian with classical and other learning, 
seems to give to my present purpose rather the character of an imperious 
duty. To the discharge of this duty then I shall proceed without further 

reface. ; 
‘ That the education of youth is of all others the most important instru- 
ment for good or evil to individuals and society, is a truth clear beyond 

uestion. Hence the two-fold duty results, of supplying the means of 
this education, and of supplying them in a manner to promote individual 
and social happiness. In this southern country, we are suffering under 
the evils that arise both from a want of schools, and from the defective 
character of the greater part of those which we possess. Under this latter 
evil, however, the United States generally are fahorings and it is increas- 
ing in weight and extent every day; and will continue so to increase till 
the Religion of Christ is made the basis of instruction in our seminaries 
of learning. For where this is not the case, education is conducted upon 

rinciples at war with our nature, our condition and eur obligations; and 
ce cannot fail, in a greater or less degree, to be the instrument of evil 
to us in every light in which we may be viewed. 

I shall discuss the subject, then, in reference to our nature as immortal 
beings; to our condition as fallen and social beings; and to our obligations 
as Christians and as Churchmen. 

1. My first argument for making Christian and secular instruction in- 
separable, is drawn from a consideration of our present state, as being 
merely relative and probationary. 

When we come into life we bring with us an imperishable nature, and 
enter immediately upon a scene of things most vitally connected with the 
improvement and happiness of that nature through every progressive stage 
of its endless being. In making provision then for the future, no portion 
of our existence can be left out of the account but with imminent hazard. 
The discipline of childhood, if conducted with proper forecast, must be 
conducted with reference to youth, to manhood, to hoary age, to endless 
immortality. In regard to these successive periods of the present life, we 
admit the disastrous consequences of early neglect. Indeed we cannot 
shut our eyes to these consequences. Hardly a day passes, which does 
not disclose to us, in the recklessness of youth, the viciousness of mature 


4 


life, or in the miseries of old age, the fatal absence of timely discipline. 
But if this neglect sends a curse after man in bis earthly career, what can 
hinder that curse from following him into eternity? Here then is the ori- 

in of our errors in forming plans of education. We design and act, as if 
the whole of our existence were crowded into this narrow sphere;—forget- 
ting that in our preparation for coming scenes, the present life is to be re- 
garded only as the first link in an eternal and unbroken chain of being;— 
rior sine that now is the spring time of our immortality, the season mer- 
cifully granted us for sowing to the spirit, which, squandered or unimproy- 
ed, war be sure to leave us when the harvest is past and the summer end- 
ed, amid the wretchedness of ceaseless: want. 

It would seem, then, that to act with becoming prudence, the parent, as 
he stands by the cradle of his offspring, should contemplate them as beings 
destined to undergo, for a short space, the trials of an earthly probation, 
and then to pass to the joys or sorrows of an eternal state, according as 
they may have been good or bad in the present hfe; and should, in view 
of such truth, use all possible diligence to subject them to that moral as 
well as mental training, indispensable to their comfort here and their hap- 
piness hereafter. ‘To a failure in this reasonable duty, may be ascribed, 
much of that degrading spirit of worldliness,—that sordid thirst for gain, — 
that unmanly deyotion to personal gratification, —that brutal indulgence of 
the animal appetites and passions,—which holds such an alarming ascen- 
dency over our fallen nature, and seems to annihilate our claim to be con- 
sidered reasonable and immortal beings. 

I said in the outset of my remarks upon this point, that our present state 
is altogether redative. That every thing connected with man below has 

‘respect to another life; that nothing finds its ultimate end or final conse- 
quences short of eternity. It follows, therefore, that in all our plans and 
pursuits we should seek first the kingdom of heaven;s—that the husbandman 
should aim chiefly for an inheritance at God’s right hand;—the merchant, 

for the pearl of great price;—the professional man, for that honor which 
cometh from God only;—the man of letters, for that knowledge which a- 
lone can make wise unto salvation. If then these secular occupations are 
all to be pursued with constant reference and subseryiency to the more ex- 
alted employments of a heavenly world, does it not appear indispensable, 
that our education for them should be accomplished in a manner to secure 
this important end? ‘That while in a course of preparation for acting our 
art well on the present stage of beg, we should likewise prepare to act 
it with reference to its interesting beating upon the destinies of a higher 
worlds and hence should be satisfied with nothing short of that course of 
moral discipline, which, leading to honor and usefulness here, will have 

its ultimate reward in the glory and blessedness of an eternal hereafter? 

But how shall this end be attained, except as we give Christian instruc- 
{ion an eminent place in our common and classical schools? ‘This, it may 
be said, should be left to the admonitions of the fire-side, or the lectures’ of 
the pulpit. Much, itis true, may in this way be accomplished; much, 
which, at present, is criminally neglected. But still, if man be immortal 
and accountable; if his immortality be dependent for its happiness or mise- 

' yy, its honour or shame, upon the present discipline of his passions and af- 

. fections, what a(lvantage shall he not seize upon, for making his calling 
and election sure! And if the acquisitions of this perishing state can jus- 


5 


ily the care and labour we so readily devote to their attainment, what can 
we safely withhold from that moral and religious culture which is to fit us 
for a state of supreme and unalterable felicity. 

2. The importance, however, of making the religion of the Saviour en- 
ter largely into all our systems of education, will be more strikingly mani- 
fest, as we reflect secondly, upon our condition as fallen beings. 

Man has not only to prepare for two states of existence, but also to pro- 
vide against the evils of a two-fold nature. In preparing for his earthly 
state, he meets with little opposition, except from his animal nature, ex- 
hibited in dispositions to indolence and desires for sensual gratification. 
But in fitting himself for a heavenly state, he is called to encounter not only 
the carnal appetites and passions, but also the perverseness of the will and 
the debasement of the whole moral and intellectual faculties. Even the 
very passions which come in aid. of our necessary worldly attamments, 
must be assiduously guarded against in our spiritual pursuits. Pride, am- 
bition, the desire of gain, and thirst for knowledge, which help to subdue 
our natural indolence or love of ease, and awaken us to industry and self 
denying effort in human things, must all, in their turn be stihduew and kept 
under the rein, if we would be successful in our pursuit of the things above. 

How marked then with infatuation is the course, which would defer the 
discipline of the passions and the concerns of immortality to that period 
when these passions are all strongly enlisted on the side of the world, and 
these everlasting concerns are effectually debarred from the mind, by the 
multitude of temporal cares and pleasures which have already gained pos- 
session of its thoughts; or that would commit the religious education of the 
young to the brief instructions of one day in seven, while the remaining six 
are devoted to those objects calculated to induce forgetfulness of God, and 
to encourage a worldly spirit. 

If it be madness, however, to defer this subjugation of the passions and 
this training of the heart to a late period, by what epithet shall we charac- 
terize that conduct which would entrust this great, this spiritual work to 
any other than Christian means. After the many and vain attempts in 
our “ri to make men moral without making them Christians, I need not 
multiply words to convince reasonable minds of the importance, in all our 
dealings with the inner man, of the application of Gospel truth,—some few 
instances indeed may be adduced where circumstances have presented such 
motives of self-interest as to ensure, even in the face of corrupt propensity, 
along course of virtuous living. But whoever has observed how precarious 
is the foundation of such virtue, and how rare are the cases of its occur- 
rence, will find little difficulty in admitting the force of the apostolic excla- 
mation—*‘‘who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that 
Jesus is the son God!” To the Gospel then, must we resort, and that ear- 
ly and diligently, if we would gain the mastery over a corrupt nature, and 
successfully pursue the objects of an immortal existence. But how does 
this comport with the practice of excluding from our schools Gospel in- 
struction? What is to supply its place to our children in that most expos- 
ed and critical period of their lives,—the period of their education? 

3. Our children, however, are not only destined to immortality and sub- 
jected to the evils of a fallen state, which call for the most assiduous Chris- 
tian discipline, but they are also social beings, and must soon be prepared 
to act their part as members of society. But in what way this preparation 


6 


_ 1s to be effected, 1s ‘a query which no parent, who loves his country, should 
leave for a moment unsolved. 

That in communities of men, Christian principles are necessary to an 
elevated and permanent morality, will be forced upon the attention of any 
one who examines into the condition of society since the introduction of 
the Gospel, or into the comparative state of communities, enjoying differ- 
ent degrees of Gospel instruction. Infidel France furnishes a hedeablids 
ing picture of a people destitute of the controlling and sanctifying power 
of Christian faith; and who that contemplates the dark and terrifying shades 
of that picture, can, for a moment doubt the absolute necessity of Christian 
principles and institutions to the integrity, the moral healthfulness and 
general welfare of governments, as well as of smaller bodies of men. 

But what is thus true of society in general, is especially so in regard to the 
kind of government, (if properly administered, the best and happiest in the 
world,) under which we live. In other governments, the want of morality 
among the people may in part be supplied by the power of the sovereign; 
but in a republic, where the sceptre moves at the voice of the multitude, 
nothing can prevent the most wide-wasting calamity, but the moral sense 
of the fateh of which the nation is composed. Virtue must keep pace 
with freedom, and be her continual guide, or aslavery far more to be dread- 
ed than the scourge of despotism, will immediately ensue. Hence the 
pressing necessity of securing by every possible means, the virtue of our 
citizens. But strange as, at first thought, it may appear, the difficulty of 
doing this is in proportion to the extent of our national blessings and the 
pelts of our national institutions. For great blessings, among fallen 
beings, are little else than great temptations. Pride lifts us up as our trea- 
sures increase, while our corrupt hearts are apt to take advantage of the 
enlarged means of vicious indulgence. Besides, a sense of equal rights 
and of unrestrained, political liberty, tends on the one hand to beget a feel - 
ing of irresponsibility, and on the other a disposition to licentiousness, _ pe- 
rilous to general good morals. The truth of this remark finds a too mani- 
fest illustration in the present aspect of our country. Painful as itmay be 
to admit the fact, it stares upon us with a boldness too unblushing and too 
menacing to be covered even by the mantle of Christian charity, that our 
people, from the highest to the lowest, are fast losing sight of the magni- 
tude and sacredness of their political trusts, in an eager and inglorious strife 
for personal emolument and sensual gratification. And where is the reme- 
dy for this alarming and rapidly extending evil? It must be soon found 
and applied, or this unchecked indulgence of selfish passion will prostrate 
our free institutions and reduce our commonwealth to a state of disgrace- 
ful and irremediable anarchy. Men in high places, must be made to feel 
the weight of their responsibility; to realize the fatal influence of a corrupt 
example; the disastrous consequences of cc do for office; the ultimate 
ruin to our country of a local, selfish, narrow minded policy; must be led 
to a determination like that once nobly expressed by a distinguished states- 
man at his entrance upon office—first of all, to subdue and forget his own 
heart. While every citizen of our republic must be taught to look not 
only to his own, but to his neighbor’s welfare; must be armed with the pan- 
op'y of moral virtue and moral courage against the assaults of corruption 

_and the stratagems of intrigue. But the question returns, how is this 
change to be brought about? The current of popular sentiment, made to 


vi 


set in an opposite direction? Not surely by a union of Church and State. 

The day that saw such an alliance I should deprecate as the most fatal to: 
Religion. This needs not the strength of governmertts. Its ark is too sa- 

cred for the profane touch of secular power. But, while Religion in its 

legitimate exercise meddles not with the reins of government, its business 
is with the hearts of the people! How, then, shall they be secured to vir- 

tue and true patriotism? Every scber and well-judging mind will be quick 
to answer, by instilling into our youth the principles of the Gospel of 
Christ.* That Gospel, which applies the axe to the root of the tree, ex- 

erts its renovating power upon the heart, the impure fountain of all moral 
evil; which, in opposition to worldliness on the one hand and malevolence 
on the other, demands with authority, that we first lay up treasures in 
Heaven, become rich towards God; that we love one another, love our en- 

emies, bless and curse not; 'That in short, we love the Lorp our Gop with 
all our heart and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and our neigh- 
bour as ourselves. 

This divine Religion, inculcated upon the minds and hearts of our chil- 
dren, affords the only hope of happiness to our people, and of permanency 
to our institutions. But to be effectual, it must be inculcated with more 
extended and energetic efforts than have yet been put forth. The preach- 
ing of the Gospel, the establishment of Sunday Schools, and the enlarged 
privileges of parochial instruction, have done much for individuals and the 
community, but they have not yet reached the evilin question. ‘The truth 
is, alarge proportion of the individuals who give tone to the morals, 
and character to the laws of our country, are seldom or never under the 
influence of Christian instruction, either because they are deprived of it, 
or have no relish for its blessings. Now the only way, by which we can 
Aiea this class of our citizens, is through the bedi of primary and 
classical schools. Let the Gospel of Jesus Christ be taught in these with 
the same strictness and care, which ensure the successful inculcation of 
human learning, and, if I mistake not, the most salutary change will be im- 
mediately wrought. The mind, then, however unwilling at first to receive 
these lessons of holiness, will be likely in time to discern their celestial 
beauty and excellence, and to submit joyfully to their demands. At least 
it will never be able to throw off entirely their subordinating influence; an 
influence, which, by any less direct and peremptory means, would hardly 
have been admitted. 

*(Since writing the above, I have been much gratified to find my views fully sus- 
tained on every point, by so respectable a name as that of the deservedly eminent 
Doctor Rush; a few extracts from whose Works will be given below. ] 

‘1 proceed in the next place, to inquire, what mode of education we shall adopt 
so as to secure to the state all the advantages that are to be derived from the proper 
instruction of youth; and here I beg leave to remark, that the only foundation for a 
useful education in a republic, is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be 
no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and 
life of all republican goyernments.”—Dr. Rush’s Essays, Moral, Literary and Philo. 

‘‘A Christian, I say again, cannot fail of being a republican, for every precept of 
the Gospel inculcates those degrees of humility, self-denial, and brotherly kindness, 
which are directly opposed to the pride of monarchy and the pageantry of a court. 
A Christian cannot fail of being useful to the Republic, for his religion teacheth him, 
that no man “liveth to himself.” And lastly, a Christian cannot fail of being wholly 
inoffensive, for his religion teacheth him, in all things to do to others what he would 
Wish, in like circumstances, they should do to him.”—Jdidem. 


§ 


Against this, it has, I know, been urged, that to subject the youthful 
mind to a religious training, is to enslave it with prejudices, before it is 
sufficiently matured to resist them. Hence that such training should be 
deferred till the judgment becomes ripe and can assert its independence. 
To this I reply, that our object in the education of children, is to fit them 
for the duties and trials of life. For this reason they are made, without 
their choice, and often against their inclination, to submit to the discipline 
of schools, and to adopt certain principles in literature, in law, and in phy- 
sics.* Now the principles of the Gospel, controlling the affections and the 
conduct, present, infidelity itself has been forced to admit, the best safe- 

ards to the welfare of individuals and society. We go further, and in- 
sist that they are our only safeguards; that without the Gospel, there is no 
rule, in Christendom, of moral conduct; no security to social order; no 
pledge of existence to our institutions; that all the moral restraint, where- 
ever it may exert itself, in this Christian land, comes directly or indirectly 
from the religion of the Son of God— Hence to give our children the liber- 
ty, by neglecting to instruct them, of disregarding this religion, would be, 
almost without a figure, to put a passport into their hands ‘to universal trans- 
gression. What then is our duty? Or rather, what can excuse our ne- 
glect of duty so clear and so urgent as the early training of our children 
in the principles and duties of the Gospel? What, alas! can excuse the 
unbeliever for his insidious attempts to destroy the confidence of youth in 
a religious system thus of acknowledged pre-eminence, and to offer, in ex- 
change, only the fearful alternative of living without hope and without 
God in the world.t i 

We call, then, upon parents to protect their children by the shield of 
christian education, against the assaults of unbelief;—to store their minds 
early with the precepts of Christ, to prevent them from being stored by the 
rudiments of Satan and the world; to imbue them with that noble prejz- 
dice for Christ’s religion, which is a prejudice in favor of pure morality, 
good order, and whatever tends to fit man for his labors and sacrifices here, 
and to crown him with happiness and glory hereafter. Yes, we call upon 
parents to do this for the sake of their country, their children, and them- 
selves; and we assure them that here is no degrading submission, no a- 
bridgment of rational liberty, no undue sacrifice of private judgment. 

A religion, which publishes peace and good will to men, which forbids 
cruelty and oppression, and enjoins whatsoever things are true, honest, 


* “But I beg leave to ask, why should we pursue a different plan of education with 
respect to religion, from that which we pursue in teaching the arts and sciences? Do 
we leave our youth to acquire systems of geography, philosophy, or politics, till 
they have arrived at an age in which they are capable of judging for themselves? 
We do not. Iclaim no more then for religion, than for the other sciences, and I 
add further, that if our youth are disposed after they are of age to think for them- 
selves, a knowledge of one system will be the best means of conducting them in a . 
free inquiry into other systems of religion, just as an acquaintance with one system of 
philosophy is the bést introduction to the study of all the other systems in the world. 

Dr Rush’s Essays, Moral, Literary and Philosophical. 

} “Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, 
or a future state of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of 
Confucius or Mahomed inculcated upon our youth, than see them grow up wholly 
devoid of a system of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend 
in this place, is that of the New Testament.”—Jbidem. 


9 


just, pure, lovely and of good report; and exacts nothing which reason, 
unbiassed by lust, does not command us to yields—A religion, which of- 
fers freedom from the bondage of sin, and introduces us into the glorious 
liberty of the sons of Ged; which dispenses its blessings equally to the rich 
and the poor, the bond and the free, and seeks not to abate, in the case of 
a single individual, one jot or tittle of substantial good;—A religion which, 
in the first exertion of its power, struck from the human mind, the fetters 
of prejudice, and sent man abroad relieved of that cumbrous system of un- 
intelligible dogmas, which reason in her blindness had imposed :—a religion 
which has the glory of having, under its benign influence, evolved the true 
principles of physical, mental, and political science; of having thrown up- 
on the intellectual path of the philosopher and the jurist, an unerring light, 
- while it has conducted them safely to the temple of Heaven;—a religion 
which in every point of view, has anne so much for man, cannot reasonably 
be regarded as hostile to his proper freedom of thought or of action. Let 
not our entreaty with parents, then, be vain, to leave nothing undone, 
to bring their children, while yet they are tractable, into entire subjection 
‘ to the Gospel of Christ; to give as speedy a check as possible to that grow- 
ing disposition in this country to exclude from our schools, the religion of 
Jesus,—that only safeguard to the youthful mind against the insinuating 
and desperate influence of libertinism and infidelity. 

4. Brethren, I appeal to you in the next place, as Christians: place the 
importance of combining Christian with other learning on the ground of 
your duty to Curisr. . 

The disciples of Confucius, of Plato, or of-Epicurus, are known only 
by a strict adherence to the systems of their respective masters;s—and as 
they depart from these systems in views or practice, they forfeit their 
claim to discipleship. We profess to be the disciples ofa Heavenly Mas- 
ter; to have derived our principles of action from the Son of God; our 
principles of action, not in this or that particular department of duty, but 
in every thing pertaining to our present state. No error is more common, 
and none certainly more pernicious than that, which crowds the religion 
of Christ from the ordinary affairs of life into a cloister, a church, or a 
prayer meeting;—which restricts its operation to the hours of religious 
worship, fashions it into a kind of Sunday dress for the soul, while it 
leaves this «nner man for the rest of the week, bare to the temptations of 
the world, the flesh, and the devil. Brethren, let no man deceive you.— 
Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of 
Heaven, but he that porrH THE wit of our Father which is in Heaven. 
The Gospel has supplied us with rules or principles of conduct in all re- 
lations and under all circumstances, and has commanded us to walk by 
faith. Without me, says the Saviour, ye can do nothing; and adds his 
inspired servant, whatsoever ye do in word Or DEED, do AL in the name 
_ ofthe Lorp Jesus. Our lives then, are to be regulated and controlled by 
his precepts. Our passions and affections; our plans and pursuits; whe- 
ther in the closet or by the way, in the house of prayer, or in the wide 
field of secular occupation; whether in joy or sorrow, in sickness or health, 
in life or death; whether in regard to ourselves, our neighbour, or our 
God; all is to be conducted on the principles of the Gospel—and exactly 
_ in proportion as we depart from these either in our spiritual or secular acts, 
_ do we lose our claim to be regarded the disciples of the Son of God. Rot 
| 9 | 


40 


what act can be more important than that which is directed to the educa- 
tion of our children? Can we here be neglectful without treachery to our 
master, the guilt of practical unbelief? Here, where the first and the 
deepest impressions are to be made upon the mind; where the foundations 
of character and happiness are to be laid; where, in short, the soul so far 
as human means are concerned, is to receive its strongest bias for or a- 
gainst Christ, and hence the seal of its destiny for time and eternity? Let 
Christian parents pause and reflect; let them weigh well the merits of this 
question. ‘*Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ!” Wow then can Christian men be innocent, while they con- 
nive at systems of education having their foundation in the fatal quick- 
sands of irreligion. For us there can be no middle course—the contest is 
between Christ and Belial. ‘The mind exposed in education, to an influ- 
ence not decidedly Christian, is exposed to the infection of positive infi- 
delity. He that is not with me is against me, is not more the declaration 
of the Son of God, than the dictate of common sense. 

The cleansing of a corrupt heart, the subjection of carnal appetites and 
affections, the bringing into lively action the energies of the new creature, 
and the training of the whole man to a meetness for Heaven and Heavenly 
things, is enjoined by our master, as the first and the last concern of his 
disciples. But how can this be so, in regard to the inmates of our schools, 
when the only means divinely appointed for this discipline of the soul, 
are, in effect, excluded from them, and the most fearful temptations are 
often furnished in their stead—when knowledge is communicated with no 
reference to those Gospel principles upon which alone it can safely be re- 
duced to practice—when, by the very pursuits, an inordinate conception 
of human dignity is encouraged, with no counter influence from Scrip- 
tural exhibitions of our moral debility and corruption—when the mind is. 
cast upon its own strength without the lesson of its absolute, spiritual de- 
pendence upon the grace of God; when pride is awakened and prayer not 
enforced; human knowledge is elevated and the word of God kept out of 
view; the means of earthly prosperity exhibited, and the means of grace 
not insisted on; when, in short, all is eager preparation for the present 
life, and the considerations of eternity are put aside, to a more convenient 
season! Alas! is this fulfilling the command to bring up our children in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord! this the way to follow Christ; to 
do allinhis name! Christian Brethren, we are verily guilty in this mat- 
ter. Itis time we had reformed; time that we were acting more fully up- 
on the principle, ¢haé we are not our own; that we and our children are 
bought with a price; with the precious blood of the Son of God; time that, 
we were lending all our influence, all ourenergies to his reasonable service. 

5. Taddress you finally, Brethren, as Episcopalians, and entreat by 
the love you bear to the Church, of which you enjoy the blessing of being 
members, to see to it, that, in all your schools, the lessons of Gospel truth 
are inculcated; and inculcated according to the doctrines, the discipline, | 
and the worship of that Church. . 

In persuading you to this, I have no need to resort to any party consid- 
erations; these, always unworthy of the Gospel ministry, are unnecessary — 
toourcause. The simple love of truth and the desire of promoting it ina — 
scriptural and efficient manner, furnish a basis sufficiently broad, ‘upon — 


which to place my argument. 


14 


A regard to the truth, then, should, in the first place, secure the active 
co-operation of every Churchman, in any measure tending to advance the 
doctrines, the discipline, and the worship of the Church. For, in our 
view, to advance these, is to advance in the best way the truth, as it is in 
Jesus;—while to depart from them, would be to desert that truth. The 
Gospel system is one and unalterable; not bending to the will and caprice 
of erring men, but requiring from all, and upon the authority of God alone, 
uncompromizing submission. With the preservation and extension of 
this system of devine truth, the flock of Christ has been entrusted. Our 
conviction is clear, that it is faithfully and admirably presented in the doc- 
trine, discipline and worship of our Church. ‘The conclusion then is in- 
evitable, that our first duty is to preserve and extend these, as we are 
blessed with ability; and to do it, because the Lord our God requires it of 
us—we have no alternative—as Churchmen we must act on the prin- 
ciple here urged. Dissenters may differ from us; they may so widen the 
narrow way of life as to embrace all the devious and crooked ways of men, 
and hence escape the charge of inconsistency for indifference to distinctive 
principles. But for us, there is no such escape. We believe, if we are 
Episcopalians, that there is but one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, and 
we are bound as men, and as Christians to act upon this belief. The 
question is nof, whether we are right for wrong; but whether, considering 
ourselves right, we can innocently do any thing to promote their views 
whom we consider in error. And here surely is no breach of charity— 
Gospel charity requires not that for the sake of peace with men, we give 
up the truth of God. While, if it be possible, you are to live peaceably 
with all men, you are at the same time to hold fast the form of sound 
words, to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints. 
Your first concern, Brethren, is with your duty to God: your next with 
' that to your neighbour. Take care of the first, and the second will be 
likely to follow. bitte 

Now your duty to God, agreeably to your avowed or implied convic- 
tions, demands, that the Christian education of your children should be 
conducted on the principles of the Church; and hence by pious Church- 
men. It is utterly vain to talk about a neutral course in this matter of 
education. I know there are those, who pledge themselves, and no doubt 
with very honest intentions, to such a course. But admitting their ability 
to pursue it, you perceive it must necessarily exclude all discipline in 
religious truth, which of itself is a sufficient objection. The thing, how- 
ever, is wholly impracticable. The teacher must be more than human, 
not to endeavor in a degree to bias the mind of his pupil; while the pupil 
must be equally exalted not to receive that bias. 

Your love of the truth, then, brethren, should secure for your children 
the tuition of pious, Episcopal teachers. 

But these children themselves have too much at stake here to admit of 
your neglect. In addition to their interest in the divinely instituted 
means of grace deposited in the Church, as the ordinary channel of God’s 
spirit to their hearts in conversion from sin unto holiness, they need every 
help that the Church can supply, to secure them against the prevailing 
errors of the day. Antinomian heresy on the one hand, and fanatical ex- 
citement on the other, exact of every parent more than ordinary vigilance 
in the Christian education of his children,—that he leave them not to be 


12 


tossed about by every wind of doctrine, but, that he provide them with 
an anchor, sure and steadfast, in the Scriptural Liturgy and Scriptural 
views of the Church, early and assiduously inculcated. 

Besides, this course is but an act of justice to that Church. She has 
been, and still continues to be, much misrepresented. And although this 
may, in some few instances, have arisen from envy, hatred and malice, still 
Thave the charity to believe, that generally we have suffered from not hav- 
ing been known. The ignorance which prevails on the subject of our 
principles and practices, in many parts of our country, 1s almost beyond 
belief. This circumstance has often given a recklessness to assertion, and 
a boldness to designed mis-statement, absolutely prostrating the Church. 
Nothing but a faithful inculcation of our doctrines, discipline and worship 
in all our schools, can effectually put ¢o silence this ignorance of foolish 
men- 

In this way too, and in this way alone, can we secure to the Church an 
intelligent and efficient support; both as regards the Laity, and an ade- 
quate number of well-furnished Clergy. Facts that I might adduce in 
regard to the one or two schools in the Church, established on the princi- 
ple here urged, would be ample to bear out upon this point the most en- 
larged expectations. Let the Gospel, as embodied in the standards of 
the Church, be made the basis of instruction generally in our Literary In- 
stitutions, and the result will be an abundant Clergy, and a Laity always 
prepared to give a reason of the hope that is in them. 

My Brethren, I have thus, under the strong convictions of duty, fur- 
nished you with a rapid sketch of the chief reasons, why we should estab- 
lish no schools except upen the principles of the Gospel, and the Gespel 
in the Church of God. 

It remains that I briefly urge these reasons in reference to the partieu- 
lar subject that elicited them on this occasion:—the subject, just enter- 
tained, and so promptly and unanimously acted upon by this Convention, 
of establishing a Diocesan Episcopal School. 

It affords me gratification, to know that some of our largest Parishes 
have already established schools, in a measure, on the principle now re- 
commended. But the smallness and inability of a great part of our Pa- 
rishes forbids this as a general thing. But by collecting our scattered 
resources to a single point, we shall be able to make an immediate begin- 
ning in this good work of incalculable benefit to the Church and the com- 
munity at large. 

The sums which Episcopalians and the friends of Episcopalians alone, 
are now expending in the education of their children abroad, would be 
ample to sustain, in our own State, a Classical School of the very highest 
order. And what intelligent citizen of this State does not perceive the 
decided advantage of educating our youth as near as possible to the spot 
where they are to pass their lives. The strong attachments for an Alma 
Mater; the lasting friendships formed among school companions; the 
greater confidence usually placed in those who are educated among us; 
and the force of early impressions and associations, constitute so many ar- 
guments in behalf of home education—of training our sons and daugh- 
ters for the duties of life, where those duties are to be discharged. Be- 
sides, an absence of Collegiate institutions is an absence of the direct rays 


15 


of knowledge upon our people. We enjoy but a feebly refiected light: 
The sun is notin our horizon. 

Upon this point, however, IT must not enlarge. Another is presented 
in regard to the School we are about to establish, of equal, or greater im- 
portance. This School is to be strictly an Lpiscopal School: not that the 
children of others than Episcopalians are to be excluded; but it is to em- 
brace in its system of instruction, the doctrines, discipline and worship of 
the Church. Greatly do I rejoice, that an example has, in respect to-the 
principle here involved, been set us by the surrounding denominations of 
Christians. As it is the only honest principle upon which to diffuse the 
truths of Religion, while, in my view, it furnishes the best guaranty to an 
efficient system of classical instruction, by preventing that feebleness of 
action and that source of disagreement incident to all bodies made up of 
individuals of clashing views and interests. ‘This, it is true, is no desira- 
ble state of things; but still it is human nature, and must be guarded a- 
gainst in all human associations. It is therefore matter of sincere gratifi- 
cation that I can present our contemplated school to the public, with such 
an important pledge of its efficiency, as is implied in the fact of its being 
strictly an Episcopal School;—with teachers and guardians and support- 
ers al] united in heart and hand, and that by the firmest, holiest tie—the 
tie of Christian fellowship, to elevate its character, and give it perpetuity. 

To the members and friends of our communion, it presents one other 
claim. It is to provide the means, to a certain extent, of Zheological 
Education. ‘This, although not distinctly specified in the report of the 
committee, as it must necessarily be a matter of future arrangement, is, 
notwithstanding, to be understood as forming a part of the intended plan. 
In fact. the advantages to students in Theology who are unable to repair 
to our General Seminary, will immediately be much enlarged. The ac- 

cumulation of books, the increased facilities of instruction, and the means 
of support in Rectorships will at once supply, in some degree, a deficiency 
too long and too deeply experienced by such Candidates for Orders as 
have hitherto been under the necessity of relying wholly upon private study. 

And now, as in conctusion, I revert to the ability of As8 Church, I can- 
not, for a moment, permit myself to doubt, that the Convention will find 
itself fully sustained in its resolutions. Jts pledge will be redeemed! 1 
once might have thought otherwise;s—but it was before my personal ac- 
quaintance with the Episcopal Laymen of North Carolina. Now, the 
friendly intercourse of nearly two years, and my experience in various 
ways, enable me to pronounce, with a feeling of moral certainty, that the 
pledge of this Convention will be redeemed! 

My Reverend Brethren, although the subject of my Charge may seem 
to have led me from its direct application to yourselves, still I trust, that 
you have already perceived, from your high relation to the Christian 
Charch, your vital interest in this subject; that with yourselves in fact, it 
- rests, whether the principles E have urged shall be carried out, in regard 

not only to the Episcopal School we have just established, but also to eve- 
ry School, in every department of education among the members of the 
Church. 
‘The entire union of our views and efforts hitherto, affords to my mind 
_ an unqualified assurance of your co-operation and your prayers. But up-, 
on yourselves and upon every friend of the Church let the truth be so- 


i4 


lemnly impressed, that we shall succeed only by the help of God. Lei 
us then, asa Diocese, with united hands and united hearts rush together 


to the feet of our Sovereign, and beseech him, in earnest, constant prayer: 
to be our refuge and strength. 


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